The San Francisco Giants traded two minor leaguers to the Cincinnati Reds for starting pitcher Mike Leake Thursday night.
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Mella has pitched at High-A San Jose in 2015, going 5-3 with a 3.31 ERA and 1.13 WHIP. He has pitched exceptionally well of late, posting a 0.60 ERA in 30 innings over his past four starts.
The Reds received first baseman Adam Duvall and right-hander Keury Mella in the deal. 279 with 26 homers and 79 RBIs at Triple-A Sacramento.
After massively overspending on players such as Hanley Ramirez, Pablo Sandoval, Rick Porcello, and Justin Masterson, the Red Sox front office would much rather pursue that option than trading young assets for a pitcher who could leave at the end of the year.
The defending World Series champions acquired one of the hottest pitchers in the majors.
They could use a strong defensive outfielder to help them the way Juan Perez did down the stretch and in the playoffs last season before completely losing his swing this year.
At worst, Duvall becomes a semi-productive bench bat and backup corner infielder, but there’s the possibility he can be an above-average bat the Reds can build around as the rest of their young talent rises to the majors. That said, ERA+ already adjusts for park factors, as does Deserved Run Average, which corrects for a host of other outside influences as well (including team defense, catcher framing, umpiring and weather) and tells us that the quality of Leake’s pitching thus far this season indicates he should be allowing 3.75 runs per nine innings rather than the 3.62 he has actually allowed before correcting for his hitter-friendly home ballpark.
The Reds traded another starting pitcher – Johnny Cueto – to Kansas City on Sunday.
Mella, 21, was signed by the Giants as a non-drafted free agent in September 2011. However in his last eight starts, he’s been fantastic, and posted an ERA of 2.33, and an FIP of 2.43.
Giants executive vice president Brian Sabean took advantage of his new role this season to personally scout available players and he attended several of Leake’s starts.
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So Leake would benefit by being traded before the deadline because he then wouldn’t have to worry about the qualifying offer tag, which likely would narrow down the list of organizations interested in signing him during free agency. Cueto and Leake were dealt in the past week. Homer Bailey had Tommy John surgery and won’t be back until sometime next season, leaving rookie starters to finish out the season.
